Research is key and doing it properly will save you a lot of time and money. It’s no good you guessing what your customers want or what you think they are searching – it’s all about knowing – and the closest thing to knowing what they want is researching using powerful platforms such as Google AdWords.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO):

KEYWORD RESEARCH

Research is key and doing it properly will save you a lot of time and money. It’s no good you guessing what your customers want or what you think they are searching – it’s all about knowing – and the closest thing to knowing what they want is researching using powerful platforms such as Google AdWords. The first thing to do, if you haven’t already, is to create an AdWords account and set up your dashboard. Once you have everything set up, you can then identify topics of interest to the audience and what the search traffic; volume, opportunity, rank, trends and price.

  1. Start by identifying 2-3 keywords / topics and then Google AdWords will work it’s magic by presenting you with relevant keywords which people are searching for.
  2. Identify long-tail keyword variations – e.g. phrases that could also be used.
  3. Assess relevance and competition.
  4. Place bid / see what you can afford for each keyword.
  5. Select your chosen words (for paid advertising) – or – if you are carrying out research for organic SEO (i.e. not paid) to use in your blogs / content then export the selected list.

CONTENT

  1. Ensure your content is of high quality and not less than 300 words – this is a minimum and should ideally be longer! In 2017, the average length was 1900 words.
  2. Try to add relevant inbound (links within your site) and outbound links (links to other sites) for credibility.
  3. Add a title tag with a CTA that is fewer than 65 characters.
  4. Add a meta description with primary and secondary words using fewer than 300 characters.
  5. Use Headings throughout the post (H1, H2 and H3s).
  6. Use relevant keywords when doing alt texts for all media.

DISTRIBUTION

Content distribution (paid and non paid) is critical to generating SEO through backlinks and social shares. To gain credibility from search engines, you need to prove that your content is relevant (i.e topical) and people want it / are searching for it. Once you have gained this, search engines will give you a higher ranking.

  1. Have a mailing list? Distribute it on there.
  2. Share it on social media – your company profiles and relevant groups.
  3. Contact Journalists and ask them to post on their online publications.
  4. Are you a sponsor / member / partner of other brands? Ask them to share it!
  5. You know your relevant keywords (which you will also have added to your content / Metas / tags…) so why not create a paid ad with AdWords?
  6. Using a few of the relevant keywords (most competitive), and after analysing which social media platform works for you the best (look at engagement rates and compare with followers), invest in paid social media ads.
  7. Is there an industry publication which offers PPC? Get in touch with them and see what they can offer.

If you need any help with setting up any of the above or would like an analysis – get in touch with WMIW: creative@wmiw.co.uk